Defending Civil Society

Civil society, is based on voluntarism and predicated on giving the widest possible latitude to the individual so that he has sovereignty over his own life, so long as he respects the equal rights of others in society.
It is in civil society--the realm of liberty--that mankind flourishes. It is from civil society that industry, civility, rectitude, science, and prosperity arise.

Friday, February 2, 2018

Jordan Peterson is a professor at the University of Toronto, a clinical psychologist and an author. He was recently interviewed by Cathy Newman on British television broadcaster Channel 4. This interview is interesting for several reasons. I find the interviewer Cathy Newman's reactions to Jordan Peterson's answers fascinating. Before watching the interview there is some background information that is required.

In case you are not familiar with "preferred gender pronouns" you should read this first:

At the University of Toronto, after receiving two written warnings, Jordan Peterson has been in danger of losing his job following his announcement that he
would refuse to use the preferred gender pronouns of students and
faculty who don’t identify with their biological gender, to the fury of
radical transgender activists. The use of such pronouns is mandatory
under a recently instituted Canadian law, Bill C-16. Peterson rejects
the injunction on free speech grounds. ‘I’m not going to cede linguistic
territory to post-modernist neo-Marxists,’ he says. He has expressed
the view that he might use the preferred gender pronoun of a particular
person, if asked by that individual, rather than having the decision
foisted on him by the state.

This is the 1 min 23 sec TV interview that made Jordan Peterson famous:

Cognitive dissonance plays an important role in the Cathy Newman interview. Cognitive dissonance refers to a situation involving conflicting
attitudes, beliefs or behaviors. This produces a feeling of discomfort
leading to an alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs or behaviors
to reduce the discomfort and restore balance, etc.

Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert comic, strip has interesting observations about cognitive dissonance in the Cathy Newman interview. He discusses this subject in a 3 min 30 sec video:

New York state will take Washington to court to challenge
the new Republican tax overhaul, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday,
calling the new law an unconstitutional assault on states' rights and New York
in particular.

The new tax law caps a deduction for state and local taxes
at $10,000, a move that will increase federal tax liabilities for many
homeowners in high-tax states like New York. Cuomo says the change could
increase tax liabilities for some New Yorkers by as much as 25 percent,
potentially prompting some to leave for cheaper states and making the state
less competitive economically.

Many of the governor's new proposals are aimed squarely at
Washington, and a federal government that he says is seeking to set back
progress in New York when it comes to the economy, equality, health care and
the environment. Cuomo cited recent accomplishments such as a higher minimum
wage, free college tuition and paid family leave as an alternative to the
policies emerging on the national level.

Andrew Cuomo is correct that socialism is only possible if the state prevents productive citizens from leaving and then expropriates their property.

If you do not watch the entire speech you are doing yourself a great disservice. But if that is your decision, then please at least read these highlights:

... when Jefferson writes in the
Declaration of Independence that all men are
created equal and endowed by their creator
with certain inalienable rights the
reference to "by their creator" and "the inalienability of rights" is the recognition of the
natural law, that our rights come from our humanity ... our rights come from our humanity and not from the government. This is the theory of the natural law.

We fought a revolution and won the revolution and wrote the
constitution, the purpose of which was to define
the government and confine the
government. Define and confine at the same time. There was of course in Philadelphia
in 1787 a lot of disagreement over what
the Constitution was going to look like. In fact if you recall your
history and I'm sure you do the delegates
were sent to Philadelphia in 1787 not to write a constitution but to offer amendments to the Articles of Confederation.

The Commerce Clause [of the Constitution] which permits the government
the federal government the Congress to regulate commerce among the several states is the favorite hook for the Congress today and the courts today
to hang their hat on when they want to engage in expansive federal authority ... the original meaning of the Commerce Clause was to regulate the movement
of goods between merchants as that
crossed state lines stated differently to
get rid of state tariffs.

Madisonian government ... that concept is that
the federal government can only do what
is specifically authorized to it in the Constitution. Justice Scalia put a
sort of tail on that with his theory of originalism, which means that the Constitution, if it is the supreme
law the land, can't change with the
passage of time and it must mean the same
thing today as was the original public understanding of it at the time it
was ratified. If Little Jimmy [James Madison] and big
Nino [Justice Scalia] had their way then the Commerce
Clause would have its original public
meaning which was giving only to Congress
the power to regulate the movement of
goods between merchants as they cross the interstate lines.

... a famous farmer named Roscoe Filburn in an infamous [supreme court] case during World War II decided that
all the wheat in his backyard would not
be sold, it would be ground by Mrs. Filburn into flour and she would bake it
into baked goods for your family. Can that
be regulated by the federal government? Answer, yes. Because by not putting
that wheat into interstate commerce there
was theoretically an effect on
Interstate Commerce and since Congress can
regulate anything that affects interstate commerce and can regulate what
Roscoe Filburn does with his wheat in his backyard.

Woodrow Wilson turned Madisonian democracy
on its head. [in the] Madisonian [theory] the
government the federal government can only do
what it is expressly authorized to do in
the Constitution. Wilsonian the federal government can do whatever it needs
to address a national problem and
for which there is political will except that which is expressly prohibited
to it in the Constitution. So these are
really polar opposites and I'm sorry to
tell you that every president of the
United States since Woodrow Wilson no matter what the president has said, no
matter what the times required, no matter
what war was being fought, no matter how prosperous we may have been at the moment, has been a Wilsonian.

I expect that I will die, when I do, faithful to my first principles to
our first principles in my bed in my
house surrounded by people that love me. But not all of you particularly the
young people will have that luxury. Some of
you will die in a government prison
faithful to first principles and some of you
may die faithful to the first principles in
a government Town Square to the sound
of the government's trumpets blaring. When the time comes to make that horrible decision, stay faithful to the first principles or give in to the
government, you will know what to do because
freedom lies in the human heart and while it
is there, no tyranny of the majority and
no tyrant can take it away, but you must exercise, it it must do more than lie there.

Quotations

The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws. -- Tacitus (a Roman Senator) 68 AD

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground. -- Thomas Jefferson 1788

I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. -- Thomas Jefferson 1800

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. -- Thomas Jefferson

The State is the great fiction through which everyone endeavours to live at the expense of everyone else. -- Frédéric Bastiat 1848

Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state lives at the expense of everyone. -- Frédéric Bastiat 1848

Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. -- Lord ActonThe will of the people cannot make just that which is unjust. -- Lord Acton

It is easier to find people fit to govern themselves than people fit to govern others. -- Lord Acton

The champions of socialism call themselves progressives, but they recommend a system which is characterized by rigid observance of routine and by a resistance to every kind of improvement. They call themselves liberals, but they are intent upon abolishing liberty. They call themselves democrats, but they yearn for dictatorship. They call themselves revolutionaries, but they want to make the government omnipotent. They promise the blessings of the Garden of Eden, but they plan to transform the world into a gigantic post office. Every man but one a subordinate clerk in a bureau. -- Ludwig von Mises 1944

A man who chooses between drinking a glass of milk and a glass of a solution of potassium cyanide does not choose between two beverages; he chooses between life and death. A society that chooses between capitalism and socialism does not choose between two social systems; it chooses between social cooperation and the disintegration of society. Socialism is not an alternative to capitalism; it is an alternative to any system under which men can live as human beings. -- Ludwig von Mises 1949

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. -- Winston Churchill

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. -- Winston Churchill

First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi

When a self-governing people confer upon their government the power to take from some and give to others, the process will not stop until the last bone of the last taxpayer is picked bare. -- Howard E. Kershner

There is all the difference in the world between treating people equally and attempting to make them equal. -- Friedrich A. Hayek

Liberty not only means that the individual has both the opportunity and the burden of choice; it also means that he must bear the consequences of his actions…. Liberty and responsibility are inseparable. -- Friedrich A. Hayek 1960

There is simply no other choice than this: either abstain from interference in the free play of the market, or to delegate the entire management of production and distribution to the government. Either capitalism or socialism: there exists no middle way. -- Ludwig von Mises 1962

Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Tolerance in the face of tyranny is no virtue. -- Barry Goldwater 1964

Either we believe that the State exists to serve the individual or that the individual exists to serve the state. -- Ayn Rand

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same. -- Ronald ReaganGovernment is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem. -- Ronald Reagan 1981

The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design. -- Friedrich A. Hayek 1988

Free people are NOT equal and equal people are NOT free. -- Lawrence Reed

Taxation is theft, purely and simply even though it is theft on a grand and colossal scale which no acknowledged criminals could hope to match. It is a compulsory seizure of the property of the State’s inhabitants, or subjects. -- Murray N. Rothbard

Truth is treason in the empire of lies. -- Ron Paul

The fewer things politicians control, the less it matters who controls the politicians. -- Dr. Mary Ruwart

The following 7 quotations are from Milton Friedman:

1. A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that it gives people what they want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.

2. If you pay people not to work and tax them when they do, don't be surprised if you get unemployment.

3. One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.

4. Most economic fallacies derive ... from the tendency to assume that there is a fixed pie, that one party can gain only at the expense of another.

5. Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon in the sense that it is and can be produced only by a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output. ... A steady rate of monetary growth at a moderate level can provide a framework under which a country can have little inflation and much growth. It will not produce perfect stability; it will not produce heaven on earth; but it can make an important contribution to a stable economic society.

6. Government has three primary functions. It should provide for military defense of the nation. It should enforce contracts between individuals. It should protect citizens from crimes against themselves or their property. When government-- in pursuit of good intentions tries to rearrange the economy, legislate morality, or help special interests, the cost come in inefficiency, lack of motivation, and loss of freedom. Government should be a referee, not an active player.

7. Only a crisis, real or perceived, produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable.